In this episode of The Product Podcast, Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia interviews Tricia Maia, Head of Product at TED, the 40-year-old nonprofit organization renowned for its influential talks that have garnered billions of views since launching online in 2006.
As Head of Product at TED, Tricia leads the product organization overseeing ted.com, mobile apps, events products, and backend platforms. Her team manages a complex ecosystem that delivers TED's mission of spreading ideas across borders and languages, with content translated into over 100 languages and distributed across multiple platforms.
We explore how TED balances being both a legacy institution and a startup-like organization, diving deep into their approach to AI implementation, content distribution strategy, and measuring success in a mission-driven environment. We'll discuss how TED leverages technology to make its content more accessible globally while maintaining its high standards and editorial vision.
What you'll learn:
• What it’s like to be a product leader at a nonprofit with global digital reach
• How TED uses AI to improve accessibility—including voice-cloned dubbing and translation workflows
• How Tricia balances mission-driven goals with the need for sustainable revenue
• How TED is evolving content formats beyond the classic 18-minute talk and maintains high-quality content while scaling across platforms
• How data-driven personalization is blended with editorial curation
• The key metrics TED focuses on—including engagement, retention, and impact
• How Tricia structures her team and prioritizes projects to drive maximum impact
Key Takeaways 👇:
Tricia emphasizes how being mission-driven shapes every product decision while maintaining business sustainability. The organization's unique hybrid model demonstrates how to balance innovation with established brand value.
TED's careful implementation of AI technology, particularly in translation and dubbing, shows how to introduce innovative solutions while preserving valuable human contributions and maintaining quality standards.
The combination of traditional KPIs with mission impact metrics provides a comprehensive framework for measuring success in a mission-driven organization, balancing quantitative metrics with qualitative impact assessment.
TED's effective use of functional teams combined with squad-based execution demonstrates how to maintain expertise while enabling rapid project delivery and focused business objectives.
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Brought to you by:
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Credits:
Host: Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia
Guest: Tricia Maia